Associates

Dr Luke Ward (he/they)

I am an accredited counsellor with over 7 years of experience working with young people, adolescents, and their families. I have experience with a range of presenting difficulties and extensive specialist knowledge in the areas of developmental trauma and LGBTQIA+ communities.

I am integratively trained meaning that I draw upon skills from different therapeutic approaches and can tailor my way of working to your needs.

I am committed to trans-inclusive and trauma-informed ways of working and I have delivered therapeutic training for counselling services and schools on “Working with Diversity” and “Supporting LGBTQ+ Students”.

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Qualifications

• PhD in Psychology - University of Stirling (2021)
• MSc Counselling Children and Young People - University of Northampton (2017)
• BA(Hons) Psychology with Philosophy - University of Northampton (2012)
• BACP Accredited Member
• Mental Health First Aider (2021)
• Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Level 1 (2022)

Experience

I have several years of experience at a specialist trauma psychotherapy service with young people and families and have previously been a youth leader at an LGBTQIA+ youth group. I have attended multiple trainings including developmental trauma for professionals, trans and non-binary awareness, therapeutic life story work, art therapy, and working with neurodiversity.

Outside of my therapeutic work, I am a research-active psychology lecturer, have led several funded research projects focusing on trans health, and have published multiple peer-reviewed journal articles. I have won awards for “Advancing Equality and Diversity” and “Early Career Researcher”. See my full research profile: https://pure.northampton.ac.uk/en/persons/luke-ward

Publications

• Cronesberry, K., & Ward, L. (2024). Exploring gender diverse young adults’ gender identity development in online LGBTQIA+ communities. International Journal of Transgender Health, 1-13. Article 1. View
• Ward, L., Pipkin, A., Frary, G., & Kempinska, C. (2024). “Rediscovering what I need to do to give myself pleasure”. Trans women’s experiences of their sexualities during gender transition: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. View
• Pipkin, A., Ward, L., Cotton, S., & Shearn, C. (2023). The experience of navigating sexuality in transgender people: A meta-ethnographic review. International Journal of Transgender Health. View
• Ward, L., & Lucas, S. (2023). “You’re trying to put yourself in boxes, which doesn’t work”: Exploring non-binary youth’s gender identity development using feminist relational discourse analysis. Journal of Gender Studies. View
• Ward, L. (2021). Young people's experiences of non-binary genders. Psychology of Sexualities Review, 12(2), 35-48. Request access